Electronic communication requires the use of tools and devices that are not generally available. Unrestricted and full direct access to these tools and devices is possible, free of charge, at: http://procurement.supplychain.nhs.uk/ISS/

The Framework Agreement is for the supply of Enteral Feeding and drainage of gastrointestinal secretions.

It is anticipated that in the first 24 months of the Framework Agreement the value of purchases will be circa 36 370 000,00 GBP however this is approximate only. The figures for the total estimated value are based on that initial expenditure and include a forecast for growth.

II.1.5)Estimated total value

Value excluding VAT: 74 970 000.00 GBP

II.1.6)Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: yes

Tenders may be submitted for all lots

II.2)Description

II.2.1)Title:

Enteral Feeding Syringes and Accessories

Lot No: 1

II.2.2)Additional CPV code(s)

33141310

33612000

33190000

II.2.3)Place of performance

NUTS code: UK

Main site or place of performance:

Various Locations in the UK.

II.2.4)Description of the procurement:

Syringes used in the process of enteral feeding to deliver nourishment and oral medication safely as well as aspiration (removal of gastric secretions).

Enteral feeding syringes and accessories lot includes, but is not limited to:

— reusable single patient use syringes are suitable for multiple usage of the same syringe on the same patient,

— single use syringes are for one-time usage only,

— enteral syringe accessories, including:

—— syringe caps,

—— adaptors,

—— drawing up needles,

—— surfactant kits,

—— bottle adaptors,

—— milk straws,

—— drawing up straws,

—— filter straws,

—— medicine straws,

—— rectal straws,

—— sampling straws.

NHS Supply Chain anticipates appointing all Applicants who meet the minimum requirements which are set out in these tender documents and whose total score meets or exceeds a hurdle of at least 50 % at tender evaluation stage to the relevant line of the Framework Agreement.

II.2.7)Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system

Duration in months: 24

This contract is subject to renewal: no

II.2.10)Information about variants

Variants will be accepted: yes

II.2.11)Information about options

Options: yes

Description of options:

This Framework Agreement will have the option to extend incrementally for a period up to 48 months.

II.2.12)Information about electronic catalogues

II.2.13)Information about European Union funds

The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: no

II.2.14)Additional information

II.2)Description

II.2.1)Title:

Enteral Feeding Devices

Lot No: 2

II.2.2)Additional CPV code(s)

33612000

44164310

33141600

33141610

33190000

II.2.3)Place of performance

NUTS code: UK

Main site or place of performance:

Various Locations in the UK.

II.2.4)Description of the procurement:

Enteral feeding devices are used to provide a means of patient feeding when oral intake is not adequate, and can be used as a long term enteral nutrition solution including Gastrostomy (G) tubes either Balloon or (Bumper) retained, Nasogastric (NG), Transgastric, Nasojejunal, as well as PH strips and devices used to determine the acidity in a patient’s stomach prior to enteral feeding.

NHS Supply Chain anticipates appointing all applicants who meet the minimum requirements which are set out in these tender documents and whose total score meets or exceeds a hurdle of at least 50 % at tender evaluation stage to the relevant line of the Framework Agreement.

II.2.7)Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system

Duration in months: 24

This contract is subject to renewal: no

II.2.10)Information about variants

Variants will be accepted: yes

II.2.11)Information about options

Options: yes

Description of options:

This Framework Agreement will have the option to extend incrementally for a period up to 48 months.

II.2.12)Information about electronic catalogues

II.2.13)Information about European Union funds

The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: no

II.2.14)Additional information

II.2)Description

II.2.1)Title:

Enteral Feeds, Drinks and Giving Sets

Lot No: 3

II.2.2)Additional CPV code(s)

33692300

33692200

33692210

15880000

15882000

33190000

II.2.3)Place of performance

NUTS code: UK

Main site or place of performance:

Various Locations in the UK.

II.2.4)Description of the procurement:

Provides the nutrients required for a healthy balanced diet and are intended to supplement any shortfall between what the patient consumes and their individual nutritional requirement. Includes sip feeds, oral nutritional supplements, tube feeds, specialist feeds and feed thickeners as well as the apparatus, giving sets, required to deliver the feeds to the patient’s own feeding tube and pump. The enteral feeds, drinks and giving sets lot include, but is not limited to:

— dysphagia powders,

— Oral Nutritional Supplement (ONS),

— enteral tube feeds,

— dysphagia drinks/powders,

— feed thickeners,

— giving sets,

— giving set accessory, including but not limited to:

—— various sized containers,

—— bags,

—— adaptors/connectors.

NHS Supply Chain anticipates appointing all applicants who meet the minimum requirements which are set out in these tender documents and whose total score meets or exceeds a hurdle of at least 50 % at tender evaluation stage to the relevant line of the Framework Agreement.

The Bile bags, Ryles tubes and Levin tubes lot include, but is not limited to:

— Levin Tubes,

— Ryles tubes,

— Bile bags.

NHS Supply Chain anticipates appointing all Applicants who meet the minimum requirements which are set out in these tender documents and whose total score meets or exceeds a hurdle of at least 50 % at tender evaluation stage to the relevant line of the Framework Agreement.

II.2.7)Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system

Duration in months: 24

This contract is subject to renewal: no

II.2.10)Information about variants

Variants will be accepted: yes

II.2.11)Information about options

Options: yes

Description of options:

This Framework Agreement will have the option to extend incrementally for a period up to 48 months.

II.2.12)Information about electronic catalogues

II.2.13)Information about European Union funds

The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: no

II.2.14)Additional information

Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information

III.1)Conditions for participation

III.1.1)Suitability to pursue the professional activity, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers

List and brief description of conditions:

Applicants should refer to each II.2.4 of this Contract Notice for further details in respect of appointment to the individual lots across the Framework Agreement.

Applicants may bid for 1, more than 1 or all of the lots and applicants should refer to the invitation to tender for more information in respect of this.

The term of contracts formed under the Framework Agreement may continue beyond the end of the term of the Framework Agreement itself.

NHS Supply Chain will share savings information in order to assist its customers with making informed procurement decisions. NHS Supply Chain intends to enter into arrangements under which it will be entitled to purchase supplies and/or services which it will make available for purchase by:

1) Any NHS Trust;

2) Any other NHS entity;

3) Any government department, agency or other statutory body (for the avoidance of doubt including local authorities); and/or

4) Any private sector entity active in the UK healthcare sector. Only NHS Supply Chain can order from the Framework Agreement and enter into contracts under it.

Electronic ordering will be used and electronic invoicing will be accepted and electronic payment will be used. For the avoidance of doubt, and notwithstanding the estimate indicated at II.1.5, NHS Supply Chain does not guarantee any level of purchase through the framework and advises applicants that the framework shall be established on a non-exclusive basis. Tenders and all supporting documentation for the contract must be priced in sterling and written in English. Any agreement entered into will be considered a contract made in England according to English law and will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts. NHS Supply Chain is not liable for any costs (including any third party costs fees or expenses incurred by those expressing an interest, participating or tendering for this contract opportunity. NHS Supply Chain reserves the right to terminate the procurement process (or part of it), to change the basis of and the procedures for the procurement process at any time, or to procure the subject matter of the contract by alternative means if it appears that it can be more advantageously procured by alternative means. The most economically advantageous or any tender will not automatically be accepted. All communications must be made through NHS Supply Chain's eTendering portal at http://procurement.supplychain.nhs.uk/ISS/ using the message centre facility linked to this particular Contract Notice.

Please note that the maximum number of suppliers as set out in IV.1.3 is an estimate only.

III.1.2)Economic and financial standing

III.1.3)Technical and professional ability

Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required:

The Contracting Authority reserves the right to require groupings of entities to take a particular form, or to require one party to undertake primary legal liability or to require that each party undertakes joint and several liability.

III.1.5)Information about reserved contracts

III.2)Conditions related to the contract

III.2.2)Contract performance conditions:

The Framework Agreement includes obligations with respect to environmental issues and a requirement for successful suppliers to comply with the NHS Supply Chain Code of Conduct.

III.2.3)Information about staff responsible for the performance of the contract

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)Description

IV.1.1)Type of procedure

Open procedure

IV.1.3)Information about a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system

The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement

Framework agreement with several operators

Envisaged maximum number of participants to the framework agreement: 15

IV.1.4)Information about reduction of the number of solutions or tenders during negotiation or dialogue

IV.1.6)Information about electronic auction

An electronic auction will be used

Additional information about electronic auction:

Although an electronic auction will not be used to award all or part of the requirements of the Framework Agreement the use of eAuctions may be an option as part of any contracts awarded under the Framework Agreement.

IV.1.8)Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: yes

Candidates wishing to be considered for this contract must register their expression of interest and provide additional procurement-specific information (if required) through the NHS Supply Chain eTendering portal as follows:

— click on the “Supplier Dashboard” icon to open the list of new procurement events.

Expression of interest:

— view Contract Notice content by clicking on the “View Notice” button for the procurement event. This opens a PDF document,

— express an interest by clicking on the “Express Interest” button,

— to start the response process after the expression of interest has been done, select the “My Active Opportunities” option and click on the “Apply” button,

— select the procurement event from the list by clicking on the description,

— in the detail view click on the orange coloured “Framework Agreement” button to start responding to the tender.

Header level requirements:

— applicants are required to read all framework header documents which can be accessed using the “NHS SC Header Documents” button, which is located in the “Select Framework” tab,

— applicants are required to upload the documents requested using the “Supplier Header Documents” button, which is located in the “Select Framework” tab,

— applicants are required to complete all mandatory questions, which can accessed using the “Framework Questionnaire” tab.

Lot level requirements:

— a preview of the lot line details can be viewed using the “Lot Header” tab, by selecting the Lot and using the “Lot Line Information” button. In order to respond to a lot, applicants must select the relevant lot and then use the “Express Intent” button. This expression of intent does not place any obligation on the applicant to respond, the action unlocks the ability to respond,

— applicants are required to upload the documents detailed at lot level using the “Supplier Lot Documents” button after selecting the relevant lot in the “Lot Header” tab,

— complete price offers per line for the lot by completing the required fields for the lines the applicant wants to include in the bid using the “Lot Line Detail” tab. There are a number of mandatory fields to complete on a product line basis; these are highlighted in yellow in the “Lot Line Detail” tab,

— applicants are required to answer all mandatory lot specific questions found in the “Lot Evaluation Criteria” tab,

— applicants are then required to click on the “Terms and Conditions” button in the “Submit Individual Lot Response(s)” tab to view and accept the ISS terms and conditions,

— accept the ISS “Terms and Conditions” button to access this function,

— submit lot response, by clicking on the “Submit Response to Selected Lot” button in the “Submit Individual Lot Response(s)” tab to submit response for the lot. Each lot must be submitted independently,

— applicants are able to view their submission using the “Supplier Submission Report” button, found in the “Submit Individual Lot Response(s)” tab.

Please refer to Section III.1.1) for additional information.

VI.4)Procedures for review

VI.4.1)Review body

Not applicableNot applicableUnited Kingdom

VI.4.2)Body responsible for mediation procedures

VI.4.3)Review procedure

Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures:

Appeals to be logged in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended).

VI.4.4)Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained